Colombia On Film (Again)

Travel Blog  •  Eva Holland  •  12.29.08 | 1:17 PM ET

Photo by *L*u*z*a* via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Sure, 2007’s Love in the Time of Cholera may never have become the big Colombian movie-tourism ticket that we were expecting (the film adaptation of the Gabriel Garcia Marquez classic tanked, critically and at the box office), but Cartagena—the city where “Cholera” was set—isn’t done yet.

There’s a new Cartagena-set movie in the works (called, appropriately enough, Cartagena) that will star Clive Owen as “an undercover agent at the center of the world’s cocaine trade,” as Get The Big Picture blogger Colin Boyd puts it.

Of course, another movie about Colombian cocaine may not be exactly what the country’s tourism industry was hoping for—despite the drug trade’s risque appeal for some travelers.

Over at the Matador Network, Bogota/Mompos-based freelancer Richard McColl recently spoke out about all the time and money Hollywood has put into “painting an inappropriate portrait of Colombia.” McColl offers a slate of movies that have misrepresented his adopted country—whether through glaring factual errors or what he views as a simplistic emphasis on kidnappings, guerrillas and coke—alongside a round-up of flicks that have done better.

I have a sneaky feeling that “Cartagena,” when it hits theaters, won’t be making it onto that second list.

Tags: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Movies, Pop Culture Travel, South America, Colombia, News and Briefs

Eva Holland is co-editor of World Hum. She is a former associate editor at Up Here and Up Here Business magazines, and a contributor to Vela. She's based in Canada's Yukon territory.


1 Comment for Colombia On Film (Again)

MT 12.29.08 | 6:32 PM ET

Pablo Escobar has been long gone and times have changed in the wonderul city of Medellin over the past few years and we would like to invite the world to see The Transformation of Medellin, Colombia at http://www.medellintraveler.com

Vive Medellin, Colombia!

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.